Romance Languages: A Friends-to-Lovers, Virgin MM Romance (South Rock High, Book 3)

***ARC Review*** This is my honest review for the ARC I received. I’m a big A.J. Truman fan. I love his approach to writing romance with humor, heart, and heat. This is the third book in his South Rock High series, but can be read as a standalone. I always enjoy how “real” A.J. Truman’s characters come across. Julian and Seamus both have things that they think make them less appealing or are insecure about: weight, addiction, being worthy of love. They push through like everyone else and do the best they can. I sincerely appreciated the body positivity in this book, even if Julian is hesitant at first. Julian struggles with his weight and liking how he looks. Society judges him. His mother judges him. Seamus is patient, insistent, and consistent in his affirmation of his attraction to Julian and Julian’s beauty. Offhanded comments meant to help but that really hurt aren’t excusable, even if they are coming from a place of love by family members. So I was rooting for Seamus when he stood up to Julian’s mother. And I was rooting for Julian when he finally stood up for himself. Seamus is a genuine and kind person. I loved his go with the flow attitude. Julian is very knowledgeable and always willing to help out. So it was really sweet when Seamus offered to help him lose his V-card, even though Seamus has never been with a man before. (I think it helped that they were colleagues/friends for two years first). I loved seeing Julian grow more confident. It was an unexpected…

A sweet and sexy MM romance about finding confidence and discovering love in the last person you expected. Jules and Seamus are friends and colleagues, both teaching romance languages at South Rock High. Unbeknownst to all his friends, at nearly 35, Jules has zero sexual experience. Being in a bigger body and having no confidence in himself or his looks, Jules has spent years being rejected by men, whilst building up his virginity in his mind. When he gets drunk and confesses, to his supposedly straight friend Seamus, that all he really wants for his 35th birthday is to lose his virginity, he's shocked that Seamus offers to go through the bases with him and give him some experience. Seamus is trying to get his life back on track and make up for old mistakes as a recovering gambling addict. When he realizes how much he cares for Jules, he's terrified he will wreck his life like he feels he did to his ex. As the birthday approaches, everyone is catching feelings but can they get past their lack of confidence in themselves and risk their friendship for the possibility of a HEA? I really liked the body positivity and the way the gambling addiction was handled with lots of responsibility but also giving people grace. The side characters of Seamus's landlord "dad's" Greg and Ethan were adorable, and we see a lot of the South Rock and Single Dad's Club characters. Triggers: body image issues, negative talk about being fat from side (parent) characters, gambling addiction,…